Mary Fissell
@maryfissell.bsky.social
Historian of medicine, gender, sex. Part time metalsmith. Book on the long history of abortion out now! US: https://bit.ly/4iwTsoL
UK: bit.ly/4aCNEqu Substack: https://maryfissell.substack.com/
UK: bit.ly/4aCNEqu Substack: https://maryfissell.substack.com/
New post on A is for Abortion Substack! Today we go to drugstores, not blacksmiths, but we are not so very different from medieval and early-modern people, testing urine to ascertain pregnancy. Local experts included blacksmiths, female healers, and doctors.
November 19, 2025 at 7:54 PM
New post on A is for Abortion Substack! Today we go to drugstores, not blacksmiths, but we are not so very different from medieval and early-modern people, testing urine to ascertain pregnancy. Local experts included blacksmiths, female healers, and doctors.
New post on #FindTheMidwife today. Sasha Turner talks with us about a 17th century enslaved Barbadian midwife. www.findthemidwife.com/sasha-turner. Thanks Dr. Turner!
November 12, 2025 at 1:28 PM
New post on #FindTheMidwife today. Sasha Turner talks with us about a 17th century enslaved Barbadian midwife. www.findthemidwife.com/sasha-turner. Thanks Dr. Turner!
Delighted to hear that Pushback is on the shelf @ www.staygoldbooks.com! If you are in Pittsburgh, be sure to catch this lovely indy bookshop in Regent Square. Not in Pgh? bit.ly/4iwTsoL
November 8, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Delighted to hear that Pushback is on the shelf @ www.staygoldbooks.com! If you are in Pittsburgh, be sure to catch this lovely indy bookshop in Regent Square. Not in Pgh? bit.ly/4iwTsoL
New post on A is for Abortion! It's about a 15th c French woman who provided reproductive health care (including abortion care) to her community.
November 6, 2025 at 1:13 AM
New post on A is for Abortion! It's about a 15th c French woman who provided reproductive health care (including abortion care) to her community.
It's a really special joy to get a book in the mail by a former student that started life as a thesis! www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10133/ Paul Child shows us eloquently how Jonathan Swift's life was shaped by ill-health and his attempts to combat it. Congrats, Paul!
October 30, 2025 at 12:57 PM
It's a really special joy to get a book in the mail by a former student that started life as a thesis! www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10133/ Paul Child shows us eloquently how Jonathan Swift's life was shaped by ill-health and his attempts to combat it. Congrats, Paul!
New posting on #FindTheMidwife! Noelene Jeffers and @d-squared.bsky.social in conversation about the long history of racism and gynecology: www.findthemidwife.com/deirdre-coop...
October 29, 2025 at 3:34 PM
New posting on #FindTheMidwife! Noelene Jeffers and @d-squared.bsky.social in conversation about the long history of racism and gynecology: www.findthemidwife.com/deirdre-coop...
Honored to be a featured author at #SFP2025 ! Thanks everyone for the welcoming & insightful conversations -- and for buying my book! bit.ly/4iwTsoL
October 26, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Honored to be a featured author at #SFP2025 ! Thanks everyone for the welcoming & insightful conversations -- and for buying my book! bit.ly/4iwTsoL
Had a wonderful time giving a talk @ubgenderinstitute.bsky.social, lots of great conversations, and they gave me some swag! Thx!
October 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Had a wonderful time giving a talk @ubgenderinstitute.bsky.social, lots of great conversations, and they gave me some swag! Thx!
New post today: Silphium, the ancient abortifacient plant that went extinct from overuse... or did it?
October 22, 2025 at 6:50 PM
New post today: Silphium, the ancient abortifacient plant that went extinct from overuse... or did it?
Honored to present my work on abortion in 1940s and 50s Baltimore to GYN/OB Grand Rounds at Hopkins this morning! Thanks for inviting me. And yeah, that ergot was made in Baltimore. More Baltimore stories: bit.ly/4iwTsoL
October 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Honored to present my work on abortion in 1940s and 50s Baltimore to GYN/OB Grand Rounds at Hopkins this morning! Thanks for inviting me. And yeah, that ergot was made in Baltimore. More Baltimore stories: bit.ly/4iwTsoL
New post today on #FindTheMidwife. Midwives under pressure with @sallypezaro.bsky.social and myself! What happened when midwives were pushed by town fathers to interrogate their clients? How did they balance their obligations? www.findthemidwife.com/midwives-und...
October 16, 2025 at 12:26 AM
New post today on #FindTheMidwife. Midwives under pressure with @sallypezaro.bsky.social and myself! What happened when midwives were pushed by town fathers to interrogate their clients? How did they balance their obligations? www.findthemidwife.com/midwives-und...
If you are in Baltimore this evening... great program!
October 8, 2025 at 7:21 PM
If you are in Baltimore this evening... great program!
Feeling like a quick medieval ghostly tale? Today's Substack post has got you covered.
October 8, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Feeling like a quick medieval ghostly tale? Today's Substack post has got you covered.
Hey bookshop.org has FREE Shipping today! catch my book at at a discount AND free shipping: bookshop.org/p/books/push...
October 8, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Hey bookshop.org has FREE Shipping today! catch my book at at a discount AND free shipping: bookshop.org/p/books/push...
Honored to give the 2025 Sig Synnesvedt Lecture at SUNY Brockport, with extra bonus of visiting graveyard where Susan B. Anthony AND Frederick Douglass are buried. Synnesvedt was an early anti-racist, felt so right.
October 5, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Honored to give the 2025 Sig Synnesvedt Lecture at SUNY Brockport, with extra bonus of visiting graveyard where Susan B. Anthony AND Frederick Douglass are buried. Synnesvedt was an early anti-racist, felt so right.
Maybe you thought my Substack would have a tough time finding a topic for the letter Q? LOL no; this week is about quickening.
September 24, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Maybe you thought my Substack would have a tough time finding a topic for the letter Q? LOL no; this week is about quickening.
This week's Substack is about pennyroyal, a plant used to end pregnancies for millennia. It's a story about a 17th century village drama.
September 11, 2025 at 1:30 AM
This week's Substack is about pennyroyal, a plant used to end pregnancies for millennia. It's a story about a 17th century village drama.
Delighted that this popped up in my mailbox today! Congrats @sarahebull.bsky.social !
September 5, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Delighted that this popped up in my mailbox today! Congrats @sarahebull.bsky.social !
New post on Substack! Wonderful medieval book of recipes that included pregnancy-ending herbs. Yes, abortion *has* been around for about as long as we can see from written records.
August 28, 2025 at 11:42 PM
New post on Substack! Wonderful medieval book of recipes that included pregnancy-ending herbs. Yes, abortion *has* been around for about as long as we can see from written records.
Look what came today! Honored to be in this volume. Thx @nursingclio.bsky.social !
August 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Look what came today! Honored to be in this volume. Thx @nursingclio.bsky.social !
Seen in Waterstones Trafalgar Square (not by me, thx Jamie Gianoutsos)! Love the cover @hurstpublishers.bsky.social did for me! www.waterstones.com/book/abortio...
August 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Seen in Waterstones Trafalgar Square (not by me, thx Jamie Gianoutsos)! Love the cover @hurstpublishers.bsky.social did for me! www.waterstones.com/book/abortio...
New Substack post today. Sigh, 19th century anti-abortion arguments included the all-too-familiar worries that the "wrong people" would have big families.
August 13, 2025 at 5:30 PM
New Substack post today. Sigh, 19th century anti-abortion arguments included the all-too-familiar worries that the "wrong people" would have big families.
New Substack post today. Sigh, 19th century anti-abortion arguments included the all-too-familiar worries that the "wrong people" would have big families.
August 13, 2025 at 5:30 PM
New Substack post today. Sigh, 19th century anti-abortion arguments included the all-too-familiar worries that the "wrong people" would have big families.
Mifepristone was not the first mail-order abortion pill. See the new post on my Substack, all about an 1847 book that promoted a NYC abortion clinic and also mailed out pills.
July 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Mifepristone was not the first mail-order abortion pill. See the new post on my Substack, all about an 1847 book that promoted a NYC abortion clinic and also mailed out pills.